Photos

The Clean Air Board will be meeting on Feb. 1, 7 pm to discuss the future of electric vehicles. Why drive an electric car? We will discuss this question with Felix Edem, a representative from Brenner Nissan in Mechanicsburg, PA.

Electric vehicles will become commonplace in the near future. CAB has been participating in the Drive Electric PA Coalition meetings with PennDOT, the PUC and PA DEP. https://driveelectricpa.org/ At the last meeting of the coalition, Nissan manufacturer representatives talked a bit about the 2018 Nissan Leaf, a zero emissions vehicle that can travel 150 miles on a single charge.

Four years ago, PennEnvironment activists helped convince state officials to set tougher emissions standards for cars and trucks in Pennsylvania, securing a historic victory for Pennsylvania’s environment and public health.

Last week, the White House followed our lead. On April 1, the Obama administration announced landmark auto emission standards based on the state-level standards in Pennsylvania and 13 other states.

PennEnvironment applauded these standards, as did the New York Times. [1] The new standards will save Pennsylvania roughly 400 million gallons of gasoline by 2016 as compared to previous federal regulations, while cutting global warming pollution and providing a net economic savings to consumers.

But last week’s federal victory for clean cars couldn’t have happened without the leadership of states like Pennsylvania — a point our energy and clean air advocate, Nathan Willcox, made in an opinion piece in the Harrisburg Patriot-News. And the Pennsylvania victory would not have been possible without the support of activists like you. Now we all get to reap the rewards: less pollution, decreased dependence on oil, and savings at the pump!

So pat yourself on the back and join me in savoring this victory. And as always, thank you for your support.